


Only More So

by ladyprydian



Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-02
Updated: 2013-05-02
Packaged: 2017-12-10 05:22:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/782295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyprydian/pseuds/ladyprydian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They meet, of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, in the chemistry lab at University.</p><p>Note: Please do not redistribute my fanfiction on other archives or sites without my express permission. Thank you</p>
            </blockquote>





	Only More So

**Author's Note:**

> Prequel of sorts to my other fic [He Kept it Warm for him](http://archiveofourown.org/works/745989)
> 
> Written rather quick and on the fly as the idea happened. No beta or brit-picker so if you see any glaring errors, please point them out.
> 
> The final quote is from Casablanca.

They meet, of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, in the chemistry lab at University.

 _“Oh sorry, I was just going to…”  
“No, it’s fine.”_

**  
The ickle-firsty, as he is wont to describe him, is studying Chemistry. He’s in medicine. They use the chem lab for the same reason, a quiet place to get work done and not be bothered by classmates.

Slowly the rapport builds. 

Initially each admires the other for the ability to shut up and leave the other the fuck alone to study. 

Conversation comes in the form of a chemical burn. 

_“A minor burn, John really, I assure you I’ve had much worse from my lab at home.”_  
_“Who, other than drug dealers and eccentric billionaires, has their own personal chem lab?”_  
_“Well, my father was a minor Lord with just a small role in the Government…”_  
_“Oh, Christ!”_

It also helps that John thinks Sherlock is brilliant and Sherlock enjoys having John as a sounding board.

**  
Days become weeks and soon months have gone by. They don’t meet for drinks. They never meet for drinks. They don’t date. Nothing is ever a date, just two blokes having a meal together. And don’t even suggest the cinema. John never will, not again, not after the fiasco the first time.

John will find a way to provide food for the two of them, even if it means stretching his budget. Sherlock will always take John to the restaurants where favours are owed and the food is always free. 

_“Angelo may be burgeoning criminal, but I’ll be damned if that wasn’t the best pizza Margherita I’ve ever had.”_  
_“Nona does have a way in the kitchen.”_  
_“Pizza Express is going to taste like crap after this.”_  
_“Finally, you see reason.”_

They manage.

**  
Months become years. 

Personal effects slowly migrate. Two toothbrushes in two separate bathrooms. Jumpers and jeans that are a size too small or too large in closets. Shoes that don’t fit feet.

A conversation in bed. 

_“You accommodations are atrocious.”_  
_“Not as bad as that death trap of a basement torture chamber you call a flat.”_  
_“I’ve got my eye on a place in central London. Mrs. Hudson, a family friend, has a flat to let. Between the two of us we should afford it.”_  
_“What’s the address?”_  
_“221b Baker Street.”_

They don’t acknowledge it, and to the surprise of none of their acquaintances (and let’s be honest here, they are mostly acquaintances of John), they are living together.

**  
Years span and become something much more. Something integral, something intangible. Something them. It defies quantification and qualification but both will sum it up with a quote from a film from long ago:

_“He is just like any other man, only more so.”  
_


End file.
